After a slow start to the year, Papa Murphy’s was able to raise some dough in a profitable second quarter, taking in $952,000 off of $29.9 million in revenues.
The Vancouver-based take-and-bake pizza chain saw its stock dive earlier this year after posting a “disappointing” fall in profits and revenues. The profit announced Wednesday, equivalent to 6 cents per diluted share, improves on that as well as being a $2.4 million improvement over the loss in second-quarter 2015.
Despite the good news, the company had to tone down its expectations for the third quarter due to the Olympics and the presidential election making ad space tighter and more expensive.
“Less than 5 percent of our markets have breakthrough media availability,” CEO Ken Calwell said during an investor call Wednesday.
Rather than a flat or 1 percent growth over the previous year, the company now expects a 2 to 3 percent decline in comparable store sales this summer and fall.
Calwell stressed the company will continue to push its new online ordering platform and open more stores to get into new and underserved markets.
Papa Murphy’s continued on its way to opening more than 100 stores during 2016, adding 28 in the second quarter. The company operated 1,570 stores in 38 states, Canada and the United Arab Emirates as of June 30.
“We’re disappointed by current performance in what continues to be an even more competitive landscape,” Calwell said. “We believe we are focused on the right near-term strategies.”
The company, traded as FRSH, has seen its stock price reach as high as $20.29 and as low as $6.48 in the past 12 months. Financial results were released after markets closed Wednesday; FRSH ended the day up 4.5 percent at $7.11.
